(Courtesy: Rapid Report/X)
On June 13, a 21-year-old woman died in Brazil after being thrown off a bridge during a rope jumping activity without a safety rope being secured on her body.
Multiple videos have been circulating of the incident that took place in Rio De Janeiro, where Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas is seen being launched into the air by two men off of the abandoned bridge.
Ponte do Esqueleto is a bridge where people can participate in the rope jumping sport.
Many outlets and reposts online have been publishing this incident, framing it as a “bungee jumping” incident, when it was actually a “rope jumping” incident.
According to Nick Steers, the Director of Bungee Consultants International and chairperson of the international standard for bungee jumping (ASTM F 3785), he is emphasizing that the extreme sports are “two completely different worlds”.
“The barrier for entry into those worlds is very different in terms of getting a bungee jumping cord, and that is designed and engineered to keep people safe. That’s a very high barrier for entry. Not a lot of people know how to design those,” Steers tells The Brandon Gonez Show.
He shares that bungee jumping is a controlled process, whereas rope jumping is more diverse.
“You can tie a rope swing to a tree in your backyard and have a rope swing, right? Like, anybody can get their hands on some rope. So, what happens is the barrier for entry for rope swing is very low,” he adds.
Steers tells The Brandon Gonez Show that he cannot speak on the ecosystem of the safety measures that should be implemented in the rope swinging world, but shares that in the Canada bungee jumping industry there is a chain of command for safety standards that is published. Then a designer comes in who builds the site to the standard, followed by an operations plan and frontline staff training.
He shares that now that the public believes that this was indeed a bungee jumping incident, it has instilled fear when the activity is actually safe.
Steers does advise the public on how to ensure your safety is protected when going bungee or rope jumping, and urges people to ask the right questions before participating.
He explains that activities such as bungee and rope jumping require you to ask about company standards, unlike if you were to ride a roller coaster at an amusement park where you may not have a say in the safety matters.
“When you’re going out to do an activity and you’re working with a service provider, and you’re going to participate and be engaged in that activity, you have a responsibility yourself to do a little bit of homework and ask those hard questions,” he says.
Steers also advises people to ask about the company’s oversight and proof of licensing.
“The sad part of it is that it’s an accident where somebody passed away, and when that happens, facts matter. Facts matter about how did this happen, and how can we prevent this from happening to somebody else,” he shares.
